Page 91 of Friends with Benefits

“You want to… tie me up?”

Evelyn shakes her head, her smile wicked and wonderful. “I want you to tiemeup.”

Fuck.

He’s so completely out of his depth. Will he like that? His body is very much interested… but his brain is less sure. What does that even mean? If the feral, possessive part of him is so goddamn turned on right now? Theo feels like a teenager once more, bumbling though those awkward first times. Theo knows what to do with his hands, his mouth, his body. He doesn’t know what to do with—

“Hey.” Evelyn’s palms cradle his cheeks. “Talk to me.”

“I just. Um. I don’t know what I like when it comes to…” Theo gestures to the box, not used to being vulnerable when it comes to sex with, well, anyone. “… all of this?” He scans its contents. “Is that a feather duster?”

“Yeah.” She laughs, reaches into the box for it, and trails it up his forearm. It leaves goose bumps behind. “Personally, I’m a fan of using thishere.” She starts using it on herself. Brushing the feathers lightly, tantalizingly, over her sports bra, across her breasts.

“Ev.”

She shrugs.

Drops the feather duster back into the box.

“But I’m more interested in figuring out whatyoulike.”

Her nipples are hard. Visible through spandex. God, she’s a menace. Theo can’t speak. Can’t breathe. In the beat of silence that follows, her expression shifts. She bites her lip, suddenly self-conscious. “Sorry. I’ll stop—”

“Bra. Off.”

“Less clothes.” She smirks, then actively consents, another layer of fabric falling to the floor. “Got it.” Theo flips her onto her back and reaches for the hand restraints, then the feather duster. Secures the restraints around her wrists, then brushes the skin between her breasts. “Thattickles.” She giggles, and that sound alone almost ruins him. “Lighter.”

Theo listens. Likes the quiet hitch of her breath when he lightens his touch. With restraints, she can’t show him what she wants but must tell him and he likes the filthy words she whispers in his ear, how vocal she is about what turns her on, the way her back arches when he reaches for one of the vibrators. He brushes the pulsing device over her thin cotton panties. Teases her with it until she asks him why the fuck her underwear is still on. It’s an excellent question. Theo removes every layer that remains between them and then he’s inside her andfuckhe likes the way she feels under him. How tight she is. Learning that there are so many ways you can use a vibrator.

Mostly, he likes how much she trusts him.

No.

Not likes.

Theo is pretty positive he loves that.

“Theodore,” she whispers in his ear. “Talk to me. Tell me what you want.”

You.

You.

“You.” Theo says, then presses his lips to the hollow of her throat. “Always you.”

When she comes, her teeth sink into his shoulder and the lightest pressure of herbiteis what sends him over the edge, too. After, Evelyn curls against him, her fingers lazily playing with his hair, and Theo tells himself that he can do this. Becasual. Act as though he didn’t just tie her up and confess how much he wanted her.

You.

Always you.

They spend the rest of the afternoon in Evelyn’s bed, trying to marathonLove Islandbut mostly just distracting each other with their hands, their mouths, their toys. With every release, Theo denies the feeling that resurfaced when they were in New York, then again this morning at the Foley studio, and again and again and again in this bed. Attempts to push away that unruly feeling that’s growing every day into something more untenable, the feeling that will consume him—hurt him—if he isn’t careful.

It isn’t until the next morning, when she’s snoring in his arms, that he’s able to not only name it, but allow himself tofeelthis terrifying feeling.

Happy.

Happy.

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